Friendship Is Key
by whitelips paleface
Summary: Five year old Emily Prentiss starts kindergarten...yet again, only this time, it was a lot better than she wanted it to be...


**This idea popped into my head when I was writing a similar one for Doctor who, so I decided to write this cute little one shot, that might turn into a regular story, so anyway, enjoy! Oh! Reid is a year younger, but still in the same grade!**

**Disclaimer; I don't know Criminal Minds, if I did, well, Emily would have stayed. **

The whole purpose of education is to turn mirrors into windows. ~Sydney J. Harris**  
**

Five year old Emily Prentiss walked side by side with her mother, Ambassador Elizabeth Prentiss who was reluctantly holding the young girls hand. She was guiding her to her kindergarten class, her nose scrutinized, she never really approved of her daughter going to a public school, but, since there was no private school where they live now, this school will have to suffice.

Knocking on the class room, she gave her daughter a tight smile, as she smoothed out the young girls raven wavy hair, the door opened to a tall blonde woman, clearly, dyed, she looked like as if she was around forty, but, she didn't look that old, her body was still amazing.

She had an amazing smile, that made young Emily sigh in relief, a little weight has been lifted off of her tiny shoulders. "Hello! You must be Miss. Emily!" She said, the Ambassador noticed she had an Argentina accent; crouching down to eye level with the young child. "I'm Ms. Flores." she said giving her a warm smile, and held out her hand, for which Emily took it quite hesitantly, which Ms. Flores gave it a gentle squeeze before straightening her posture.

"Her Nanny should be here to pick her up around three."

"Okay, tell her to ask for Dave, he handles the young ones after school, c'mon Emily."

"Bye, mother." Emily said without emotion, for which the Ambassador only nodded.

Emily's eyes darted around the room, the room was colorful, drawings hung up everywhere, the rug had a bunch of colorful patterns, she looked to the kids, most of them were staring at her, which was unfortunate, she let out a soft sigh. It happened every time she was new.

"Class, we have a new student! Her name is Emily Prentiss, please be nice to her." the teacher said, squeezing her small hand, reassuringly. "Emily why don't you go and sit right there." she whispered in her ear, Emily nodded and cautiously walked over to a round table that had, four people, she sat in the empty chair, between a pudgy blonde who she noticed had a pink shirt, purple tutu, and colorful socks. The girl smiled at her, and gave her a tight squeeze, with a high pitched squeal.

"I'm Penelope!" she said releasing the wide eyed brunette.

"I'm Emily." Shes aid smiling at the bubbly girl. Her eyes wondered to the group, while chewing on her nails.

"Hi, I'm JJ, and that's Aaron, Derek, and you already met Penelope." the petite blonde giggled, as the others smirked. "Oh, and that young one over there is Spence." JJ pointed at the young boy at the table next to him.

"You can hang out with us at recess and lunch!" Derek said cheerfully.

Emily smiled, when all of them nodded enthusiastically, most kids at her private school would just look at her and ignore her, not even acknowledge her existence, but here, it was all different, they were all so nice and welcoming.

Lunch rolled around, and Emily rummaged through her small school bag, and sighed. "My mother forgot to pack me my lunch." she said with an eye roll, and closed her bag slowly, standing up, fixing her shirt, and walked out with her new friends.

Aaron looked at her sympathetically, he remembered his mom always packed him two sandwiches, and cookies, he waited till they all sat down and slowly made his way to Emily with his brown paper bag, taking out a nicely wrapped sandwich, and a small _Ziploc_ bag of _Oreos' _and sat it in front of Emily. "Here you go, Emmy." flashing her, his adorable dimples. "My mommy always packs me extra stuff." he said, flashing her a toothy grin.

Emily grinned at him, and unwrapped the sandwich and took a small bit before humming in delight, and taking another bite. "Thank you, Aaron!" she said, giving him a small peck on the cheek, which made the dark haired boy blush madly.

"Aww Aaron has a crush on Princess!" Derek said, chuckling at the pair.

The two blondes rolled their eyes, and ate their sandwiches, with a smile on their lips.

"So, Emmy, where did you used to live?" Penelope asked, pushing up her glasses slightly.

Emily swallowed her sandwich, and cleared her throat. "um, my mother is an Ambassador we move a lot. Before I lived here, we lived in Chicago for a while." Emily said, her face looking down, and she kicked her tiny feet under the bench.

"Emmy, why don't you call your mommy "mommy"?" Spencer asked curiously, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose, and took a sip out of his kool-aid.

"Dunno, my mother always taught me to call her mother, but I call my dad daddy." she said with a shrug.

JJ studied the young girl, and smiled at her. As they all raced to the playground, Emily casually walked behind them, looking down at the ground, and played with her wavy dark hair. JJ turned back with a smile graced on her innocent face, to ask Emily a question but her smile soon turned into a frown. '_Why is Emmy by herself?_' JJ thought to herself and walked over to her new friend.

"Hey Emmy, why you alone?" JJ asked, cocking her head to the side, her big sharp blue eyes staring at the five year old brunette.

Emily sighed and shook her head fast. "I'm not used to having lots of friends." Emily said, a smile gracing her pink lips, her eyes sparkling with pure happiness.

"You, me and Penny are going to best friends forever!" JJ said, her arms spread wide, making the dark haired girl giggle.

"Come on, Jayje!" Emily said, running hand in hand with the blonde towards the rest of the group.

Everyone was around the play ground, Derek and Aaron fighting over who gets to go on the slide first, Penelope pushing Spencer on the swings, Emily and JJ giggled at the loud laughter of Spencer, he may be the youngest in the whole group, and class, but everyone still loved him, he always put a smile on peoples faces, no matter what.

"Penny!" JJ called out for their friend, and waved her over, Penelope immediately stopped pushing Spencer and ran over to the two girls.

"Hello!" Penelope exclaimed, smiling happily.

"Tell Emmy that we're going to be bestest friends!" JJ said, her eyes twinkling.

Penelope gave Emily and JJ a breath taking hug, and rocked them back and forth, and let out a loud squeal. "Jenny is Right! We're going to be the best of friends!"

~ooo~

**Thirty Years Later...**

"Jayje! We're going to be late!" Emily Prentiss called over the door to her friend, they were attending a ball the BAU threw every year.

Emily smiled as the memories rushed through her head, Penelope and JJ _were _and still _are_ her best friends, they've been through a lot, of course Emily moved, but she convinced her mother to let her move back when she turned sixteen, the shock on everyone's faces, when she walked into the school, she was no longer the innocent five year old they knew, she was the hottest sixteen year old in the school, hell even Aaron's eyes never left her, who at the time was dating Haley Brooks, who Emily never liked, because she was a total bitch to her.

Senior year, they all took Psychology and Forensics, everyone joked how they were all going to end up working for the FBI, and here they are.

Working for the FBI's Behavior Analysis Unit, and attending a ball. Penelope was their technical annalist, who at the moment, was doing something to JJ's phone, by JJ's request.

Aaron and Dave walked into the blondes home, with Derek and Spencer in tow. "She still not ready?" Spencer asked annoyed.

On the other hand, Derek was eying the brunette. "Dang Princess, looking good!" he said, throwing an arm around her shoulder. All Emily could do was laugh and shake her.

She did admit that she did look good, the red dress hugged her body amazingly, and the black heels she were, just completed it. Shaking off Derek's arm off of her, she went over to Aaron and hugged his waist.

Aaron smiled, and kissed the top of her head, while putting an arm over her.

"Jennifer Jareau, if you get out now, we will leave without you!" David Rossi called, clearly annoyed, and just as those words left his mouth, JJ came out, and soon enough, the three female agents, linked arms, and sauntered off, giggling, and gushing over each others dresses.

"Women." Dave said, with an eye roll.

Remember, we all stumble, every one of us. That's why it's a comfort to go hand in hand. ~Emily Kimbrough


End file.
